


Dumb Excuses

by ThatsCrazyRandom



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Asexual!Bucky (Implied), Fluff, M/M, Mentions of Murder, Mutual Pining, eavesdropping?, falling asleep together
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-10
Updated: 2019-02-19
Packaged: 2019-10-07 20:58:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,673
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17373197
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ThatsCrazyRandom/pseuds/ThatsCrazyRandom
Summary: They were friends. Good friends, formed by way too many late nights where they couldn’t sleep. But still, just friends and that was all they’d ever be, no matter how much Clint wished for more.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this at 2 am. This is my first ever WinterHawk fic and my first finished fic of 2019  
> Thank you to both Rabentochter and MxVampirePunk for looking at it for me.

Bucky trained his infamous Winter Soldier glare (dubbed so by Clint, reinforced by Tony) on Natasha as she walked in. She stopped in the doorway to the kitchen, holding a glass, and raised an eyebrow at him. 

“Not a word.” He said lowly, careful not to disturb Clint, who had fallen asleep on him last night, or earlier this morning while they’d been watching TV. 

Natasha shook her head, eye roaming up and down their sprawled out forms. Bucky had shifted them so Clint would be more comfortable, but at some point, Bucky himself must have dozed off for a bit and here there were. With Clint practically lying on top of him on the sofa. 

“I wasn’t going to say anything,” Natasha said quietly, moving to the armchair with her glass. 

Bucky didn’t bother replying. He tried to go back to relaxing as he was before Natasha came in, but he couldn't. He knew she was watching him. 

“What.” He asked flatly.

“Just don’t hurt him Barnes.” She said before pulling her book out and effectively ending the conversation. 

What the hell was that supposed to mean?

Bucky looked down at Clint’s sleeping form again. Did she think they? Holy shit. 

She thought they were dating. Him and Clint? He knew it was legal now and all but seriously. Clint wouldn’t date him. The archer may be an assassin, but he’d always had his principals, even when he was ‘carnie trash looking for a quick buck.’ Bucky had murdered parents in front of their children. Pregnant women. Good people with families who loved them. He knew that it was Hydra’s fault but the blood was still on his hands. Clint didn’t deserve that type of red on his ledger. 

Bucky would be lying if he said he hadn’t had...romantic thoughts about Clint, especially as they’d gotten closer, he’d even go as far as to say he might have feelings for the archer. But he hadn’t romanced anyone this century. He’d have no clue what to even do. Did people still go dancing? Double date? The pictures even? 

And then there was the fact he wasn’t at all sexually attracted to Clint. He wasn’t sexually attracted to anyone. Didn’t want sex anymore. He knew Clint was attractive. Hell, he thought he was beautiful. But in a purely, ‘let me just look at you for a bit and maybe make out a little’ sorta way. No ‘let’s hop into bed right this second and you can ride me until the sun comes up’ anywhere to be found.

But hold on a second. Natasha is Clint’s best friend. They had to know each other well. And she thought Clint would date him?

That was… It didn’t matter. Clint would want sex. He talked about it enough. Dirty jokes and innuendos peppered all through his conversations. Bucky couldn’t give him that. That was fine.

Clint slept for about an hour longer, before he finally stirred.

He rubbed his eyes and yawned, looking positively adorable, like a baby kitten. 

“Barnes?” Clint asked groggily. “Did I fall asleep?” 

Bucky snorted. “Yeah pal. You got a full 5 hours. Go you.” 

Clint huffed. “Shit, sorry. You should’ve just pushed me off you.” 

Bucky shook his head. “You obviously needed it. You conked out in the middle of Dog Cops.” 

“Awh no,” Clint grumbled, sitting up, basically sitting in Bucky’s lap now. He rubbed his ears. “Ow.” He pouted and pulled his aids out. 

“Sorry,” Bucky said, bring his hands up to sign along with his words. “I didn’t know it would hurt to leave them in. I would’ve woken you to get them out.” 

Clint waved him off, signing back as he yawned. ‘It’s fine. Just a bit sore. Nothing a few hours without them won’t fix. Wanna go to the range?’ 

Bucky nodded. ‘Sure. You gonna let me up?’ 

Clint flushed a light pink before jumping off of Bucky. 

Bucky laughed, not thinking much off it as he got up. 

******

Clint’s mind was still slightly reeling from earlier. He’d woken up on top of Bucky. Apparently, he’d been there for a long time too. 5 whole hours. And Bucky just let him? And Natasha had seen to. She’d been giving him smug looks as he’d left with Bucky to come to the range. 

She knew he had… well not a crush, but… a crush, on Bucky. He had for a while now. 

He couldn’t help it. Bucky was funny and smart and witty and good looking. He was, quite frankly, bad for Clint’s health, because every time Bucky would look at him with that gorgeous smile of his, Clint would just about feel his heart stop. 

But now the whole team would know because Natasha could never resist embarrassing him. And then he’d get the whole disappoint look and speech from Captain America about why he couldn’t ever make a move on Bucky. He knew he couldn’t. Bucky was still recovering. There was no way he would risk Bucky’s entire recovery just because he wanted to wake up in his arms every morning. 

Besides Bucky probably didn’t like him like that. They were friends. Good friends, formed by way too many late nights where they couldn’t sleep and found each other on the roof (Clint, trying to escape the blue) or tucked in a corner wrapped in at least 5 blankets (Bucky, trying to escape the cold). But still, just friends and that was all they’d ever be, no matter how much Clint wished for more. 

*****

“So, Natasha tells me you’re in love with Barnes.” 

“Natasha needs to mind her own fucking business for once.” Clint huffed, firing an arrow at the target. “I’m not in love with him.” He defended weakly. 

Coulson nodded slowly. “Mhm, sure.” He said. 

“I’m not!” 

Coulson held his hands up, “Okay, okay. I believe you.” 

Clint nodded. “Thank you.” He told him. 

It’d been a couple years since Coulson had ‘died’ and they were mostly okay again now. He had been mad as hell at him for letting him think he was dead because of him for nearly 6 months, but he’d missed his old handler too much to stay mad at him. It made good blackmail material though. 

Coulson hummed. “So… Are you planning on making a move on him? Natasha seems to think he likes you as well.” 

Clint rolled his eyes as he took another shot. “Natasha doesn’t know what she’s talking about.” 

“That’s not something people normally say about Tasha.” Coulson pointed out. 

“Look, dating Barnes would be great and all, I’m sure he’d be a fantastic boyfriend, but he’s recovering, and I don’t want to jeopardize that for him.” Clint shot another bullseye, looking at Coulson. “Plus I don’t want to have to face Steve’s disappointment.” 

Coulson nodded. “I guess you’re right. But, and you didn’t hear it from me, Barnes is nearly clear for official Avengers work. He’s been making real progress, and that’s just official stuff. He’s probably making huge steps of ‘non-official’ progress that doesn’t get recognized.” 

Clint let his last arrow fly, lowering his bow to look at Phil.   
“Look, he doesn’t need someone who still wakes up in the night scared of a fucking colour dragging him down. Especially not if he’s nearly ready to be cleared for duty.” 

Coulson sighed. “If that’s how you feel. Remember, you can still talk to me about it if you want too.” 

Clint nodded. “Thanks Phil.” He said. 

Clint didn’t bother watching him leave, walking down the range to collect his arrows. 

“Stupid Natasha, blabbing to Coulson about my feelings. So what if I like Barnes. He doesn’t like me that way. No need to force me on him. Certainly no need to tell fucking Coulson about it.” Clint muttered to himself as he pulled his arrows out of the targets. 

Or at least, he thought he was muttering to himself until he turned to head back to the shooting station and saw Bucky Barnes himself staring at him. 

“Shit.” He blurted. 

Bucky’s expression morphed into a smirk. 

“How much did you hear?” Clint sighed. 

“I was here before Agent Coulson left,” Bucky admitted.

Clint trudged up to the lanes. 

“Right. And you didn’t stop me because?”

“Wanted to hear what you said.” Bucky shrugged his flesh shoulder. 

Clint scrubbed his free hand down his face. 

“God this is embarrassing. Fucking Coulson.” 

Bucky laughed. 

“I mean, I think I like you too. By the way. And I don’t think dating you would ‘risk my recovery’ or whatever your excuse was.” He said nonchalantly. 

Clint’s eyes grew as wide as saucers. 

“You what?” 

Bucky looked down. “I like you too.” He repeated. “And hearing your dumb excuses made me realise how dumb my own excuses are.” 

Clint grinned, moving closer. 

“Oh yeah? What were your dumb excuses?”

“Oh you know, all about your virtue and your principals.” 

Clint scoffed slightly. “Good thing I don’t have any virtue left then huh?” 

Bucky laughed softly. “Yeah, I guess it is.” He said, before leaning in to kiss him softly. 

Clint knew they still had a lot to talk about before they made anything official, but he had a good feeling about this.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which they talk.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yay for healthy communication!

It had been a week. A great week, filled with many kisses and hand-holding and going on dates that neither of them called dates for fear of messing up this new and fragile thing they had started. 

But Clint knew, and he hated being the sensible one, that they needed to talk about what this was before it got messy and potentially affected the team. 

So, he called Bucky up to the roof. It wasn’t an unusual occurrence, so he knew Bucky wouldn’t be worrying. 

 

However, that didn’t mean Clint wasn’t worrying. He was pacing back and forth, wringing his hands as he tried to figure out what to say to let Bucky know. He still wanted to be with him, but they needed to talk. God Clint sounded like the therapist SHIELD had assigned him after Loki, or worse, like Coulson. 

******

Bucky was on his way to meet Clint. He had a feeling something was wrong. Clint had sounded slightly off when he had asked if he wanted to hang out on the roof, and it’d been bugging Bucky ever-so-slightly ever since. 

He had no idea what it could be about. He thought things had been great since they’d kissed at the range. He wasn’t exactly sure what they were, but they’d kissed a lot more during the last week. 

...Maybe Clint had figured out Bucky didn’t want to have sex with him. 

Maybe that’s what he wanted to talk about. Wanted to let him down gently, which is why he had called him to a place they both felt comfortable. 

Well, too late to leave now. 

Bucky was going up the last set of stairs to the roof. He opened the door quietly and saw Clint pacing back and forth before the archers head snapped up. 

“Bucky, hey,” Clint said, smiling. 

Bucky closed the door behind himself. “Hey yourself.” 

He moved over to stand near the edge with Clint. 

“So what do you need to talk about?” 

He felt Clint look at him in slight shock. 

“You were pacing when I came up,” Bucky pointed out, “I know you Clint, something’s up.” 

Clint rubbed the back of his neck. “Right. I… forgot about that.” 

“Did you change your mind about this?” Bucky asked, wanting to get straight to the point. It’d hurt, but then he could lick his wounds in his rooms without having to drag it out. 

Clint shook his head, waving his arms. “No, no, no, Buck. No. I like you. I really like you, you know that.” 

Bucky looked at him, waiting for the ‘but.’   
Clint sighed. “I just thought we should work out what exactly this is… I want to keep doing what we’re doing, the kissing, the dates, the hand holding. But I don’t want to be afraid to just call you my boyfriend.” He rambled. 

“Your boyfriend…?” 

Clint nodded. 

“I think I’d like that…” Bucky said slowly, testing the title in his mind. 

Clint Barton: his boyfriend. Nice. 

But… Boyfriends had sex. 

“Wait.” Bucky blurted.

Clint’s face, which had been smiling a bit, dropped. 

“I don’t want to have sex with you,” Bucky said, after a deep breath. 

Clint furrowed his eyebrows. 

“Boyfriends have sex. I don’t… I’m not…” Bucky couldn’t find the right words. 

“I… Okay. Is it just me you don’t want to have sex with?” Clint asked tentatively. 

He wasn’t going to lie, that hurt to hear, but it wouldn’t be a deal breaker. He was pretty good friends with his right hand.

He wasn’t sure if he’d be able to handle bucky having sex with other people though. 

Bucky shook his head. “I don’t want sex… I don’t… see people like that. Anymore.” 

Clint nodded slowly, “Alright…” 

Bucky looked at him, “Alright?” 

Clint nodded again, “Alright. I mean, it sucks a little, you’re gorgeous, and with thighs like that…” He trailed off, “But I don’t just like you because I want to bone you.” 

Bucky was floored. All that worrying and Clint just… accepted it? It didn’t even take him a minute. He just… understood. And he still wanted to be with him. He was perfect. 

“It doesn’t… matter to you?” Bucky asked. 

Clint shrugged. “Nope.” 

“But… you like sex. You talk about it all the time.” 

Clint moved closer, placing an arm on his shoulder. 

“I like sex, I just… happen to like you more.” 

Bucky smiled at the comment and leaned in to kiss him. 

Clint kissed him back gently. 

When they pulled back Clint stayed close and hummed. “I take it kissing is okay?” 

Bucky rolled his eyes. “Obviously, dumbass.” 

“Hey! It’s a valid question. I don’t want you doing something just because I want it.” 

Bucky liked that Clint was so thoughtful when he wanted to be. 

“I’ll make you a list of what I’m happy with okay?” 

Clint grinned and nodded. “I’ll pin it above my bed.” 

“You’re not allowed to put any more arrows in the wall. Stark said he’ll kick you out.” 

“I’ll PIN it Bucky. With a pin.” Clint huffed, “I can’t believe you have so little faith in your own boyf-... We are boyfriends right?” 

Bucky laughed. “Yes Clint, we’re boyfriends.” 

“Woo!” Clint gave a cheer, laughing and causing Bucky to join in. 

“You’re ridiculous,” Bucky said, rolling his eyes. 

“You’re the one who my boyfriend. No take-backs now. You’re stuck with me.” 

“Oh, the horror,” Bucky said in monotone.

 

Clint shoved him lightly. “Rude. Now come on, it’s cold up here, I forgot my jacket. Let’s go cuddle in the common rooms, I wanna see the look on Stark’s face when he realises.” 

“More like the look on Steve’s face.” Bucky pointed out but started leading them back towards the door into the building. 

“Nooooo. Steve’s gonna lecture me. I don’t wanna get the shovel talk from Captain America. Bucky you gotta stop him. What if we sick Natasha on him?” 

Bucky rolled his eyes. “Steve’s not scary. I’m gonna have to get the shovel talk for Natasha, I think you can put up with one from Steve.” He said, “And Natasha isn’t a dog. We can’t sick her on anybody.” 

Clint whined, following Bucky down the stairs to the elevator. 

“But Buckyyyy.” 

“But Cliiiint.” 

“You’d let your only boyfriend be given the disappointed look of Captain America on his own?” 

“Yep. I dealt with his puppy eyes for 20 years before he became Captain America, and somehow 75 years later it’s still here. You can deal with it for a change.” 

Clint continued whining until they got to the common rooms, flopping down on the couch and waiting for Bucky to sit down before leaning against him. He got JARVIS to cue up a movie from Bucky’s watchlist and settled in, smiling up at his boyfriend. 

His boyfriend. How cool was that?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter isn't beta'd at all, I wrote this during my spare session at school, and am posting straight away.  
> Hopefully, I'll beta this later today, but we'll see.


End file.
